Created on: 26 Jun 2025
A full meeting of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) took place yesterday, 25 June 2025. The Teachers’ Side had called this meeting some months ago to facilitate the promised reporting to the SNCT, on the work done by the Scottish Government and COSLA on the implementation of the manifesto commitment to teacher workload by reducing class contact time to a maximum of 21 hours per week.
The terms of reference of the associated COSLA / Scottish Government working group stated that the SNCT, alongside COSLA Leaders and Scottish Ministers, would be reported to “by the end of June”. The Cabinet Secretary for Education had also written to Des Morris as Chair of the Teachers’ Side indicating that this would happen. It had been clearly and repeatedly communicated to the Scottish Government that 25th June, as the last day of term for many teachers, was the last possible date that the Teachers’ Side could meet.
At yesterday’s meeting, the Teachers’ Side was informed that no report would be tabled and that the SNCT would not receive any report until COSLA leaders had considered the outputs of the joint COSLA / Scottish Government working group, with the Scottish Government appearing to agree with this position.
It remains fundamentally unclear why the agreed terms of reference of the COSLA / Scottish Government working group are not being upheld. COSLA leaders, made up of the elected leadership of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, have an important role to play, but no distinction is made between them and the SNCT, or Scottish Ministers, in the terms of reference of the joint working group.
COSLA and the Scottish Government have repeatedly stated their commitment to the national collective bargaining arrangements for teachers – arrangements that ensure equity and fairness in the contractual terms and conditions of teachers across Scotland. However, the Teachers’ Side has so far been excluded from joint work being carried out by the other two sides of the SNCT on reducing weekly class contact time to 21 hours, and now appear to be secondary in importance to the employers’ side of the SNCT in terms of the reporting of that work.
The Teachers’ Side of the SNCT has called a meeting on 20th August 2025, following the summer break, in order to receive the report from the joint COSLA / Scottish Government working group, and in anticipation that meaningful negotiations to resolve the formal SNCT dispute can begin.
It remains the position of the Teachers’ Side that the full 1.5 hours resulting from any reduction in weekly class contact time to 21 hours must be allocated in full to “preparation and correction” time within the 35-hour working week – doing otherwise would fail to address the unsustainable workload being endured by Scotland’s teachers.
The workload consultative ballot is critical in ensuring that tangible progress is made in the new school year towards resolving the SNCT dispute on reducing weekly class contact time. Every vote counts and the strongest possible turnout, by the close of the ballot on 28th August, will signal to COSLA and the Scottish Government that they must meaningfully prioritise workload reduction for teachers, and commit to swift and constructive negotiations to that end.
Tens of thousands of EIS members have already voted, but there is more work to be done. If you have not yet cast your vote, please vote YES twice without delay. If you have already voted, thank you and please encourage your EIS colleagues to do so today.
Through collective action, EIS members can win on workload – our unity is our strength.